Project built in partnership with Gizmo Engineering
The Need
In an open office, the small interruption — "just a quick question" — is the biggest thief of deep-work hours. An international software company wanted a physical product that solves this quietly: a device that sits on the employee's monitor, updates from their calendar in real time, and shows everyone around — without a word — that the person is in a focus session and how many minutes remain.
The Engineering Solution
The product was designed as an illuminated ring that grips the back of the monitor with an adjustable clip. When a focus window starts on the calendar, the ring lights up and the minute scale embossed on it displays the time remaining — a visual language readable from any corner of the office, at distance and at an angle. It is a pure exercise in physical user interface: no screen, no buttons, no app to open — the information simply lives in the room. That philosophy of interface-through-form is central to good industrial design. The device joins the office network and syncs against the calendar server, as connected office products do, and the specification deliberately kept all the logic server-side so the device itself stays simple and inexpensive — a foundational call in any new product development effort.
From Design to a Production Batch
The ring demands uniform light along its entire circumference — solved with a combination of an internal light channel and diffusing plastic, designed with future injection molding in mind and built on solid electronics development. After the prototypes were approved, a first production batch was manufactured and deployed across the client's offices for real-world usage trials. That deployment surfaced requirements no drawing had shown: employees wanted to read the remaining time from ten meters away, so the scale's contrast was increased and the light segments widened. A manual "do not disturb" mode was added as well, for focus without a calendar meeting — a light press on the ring lights it up immediately.
The Lesson
A good office product respects everyone's attention: it does not send another notification — it changes the physical environment so consideration happens on its own.
Have a workplace product idea? Contact the Projects House team and let's take it from concept to a deployed batch.
Photos from the project
